Wearing a flak jacket over a pinstriped suit, the top U.N. humanitarian official crawled into a hut made of sticks and plastic tarp and asked the owner how he survives in Mogadishu, one of the world's most violent cities. "It's not safe here," the owner told John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs. Violence cut Holmes' visit short. Two bombs went off, one just 1,300 feet from the U.N. compound, killing three civilians.

Insurgents fired mortar shells at the Somali presidential palace in Mogadishu, where a top Ethiopian official was meeting with the president, and witnesses said return fire from Somali and Ethiopian soldiers killed six civilians in the capital's main market. A security staff member at the presidential palace said President Abdullahi Yusuf and Ethiopian Foreign Affairs Minister Seyoum Mesfin were unharmed. Spokesman Abdi Haji Gobdon declined to comment on the attack, in a capital under increasing pressure from Islamic insurgents.

Days after winning control of this capital city, an Islamist militia advanced Friday toward Jawhar, the last stronghold of secular warlords believed to be backed by Washington. "Our forces have moved toward the warlord forces," said Siyad Mohamed, a leader of the militia, the Islamic Courts Union. Residents confirmed that the militia had advanced. Jawhar warlords, reinforced by allies, pushed southward Thursday to Qalimoy village.

A defense spokesman in the Somaliland region said Saturday that 109 people had been killed in fighting between his territory and the rival region of Puntland. Somaliland has accused Puntland's leader -- Somalia's new president -- of waging war on it. Abdullahi Yusuf, elected president on Oct. 10, has pledged to work peacefully with breakaway Somaliland as he tries to restore order to Somalia, which descended into anarchy in 1991 after the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

An exodus from the Somalian capital gained momentum Friday as a rights group said three days of fighting had killed at least 113 people. Hundreds of Somalis were fleeing by foot, donkey, cart and vehicle, witnesses said. The United Nations said that 321,000 people, nearly one-third of Mogadishu's population, had fled since February in refugee movements the country had not seen since the fall of a dictator in 1991.

Somalia's weak government and an Islamic militia that controls much of the south signed an agreement late Monday to eventually form a unified national army, officials said. The accord, which came after two days of peace talks in Sudan, did not specify when the deal would take effect. Talks were to resume in October in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. Both sides also agreed to form a peace committee to determine how to implement the plan.

Islamic militiamen holding most of southern Somalia deployed hundreds of fighters outside the base of the U.N.-backed interim government Wednesday and said they planned to seize it. Neighboring Ethiopia said it was prepared to invade to defend the Somalian government. Seizing the town of Baidoa would make the Islamic militia the uncontested authority in most of the country. The interim government was on high alert and ready to defend itself, Deputy Information Minister Salad Ali Jelle said.

Mortar rounds crashed into the presidential palace here Tuesday, hours after President Abdullahi Yusuf flew back into this chaotic capital. Yusuf's interim government voted overwhelmingly Monday to move to the city, despite near-daily insurgent attacks blamed on an Islamist movement defeated two months ago. "We saw several mortars flying over us toward the palace," said one woman who lives nearby and asked not to be named.

The collapse last week of the Islamic Courts Union in Mogadishu is reviving old clan rivalries that experts say will play a key role in Somalia's future. The following is a primer on the nation's clans. There are six main clans and minority groups, and dozens of subclans. Hawiye, the largest by number, are historically based in central Somalia and the capital, Mogadishu, though, like most clans, can be found all over the country.

The top U.S. diplomat for Africa urged Somalis on Saturday to leave behind 16 years of bloody conflict and focus on national reconciliation, warning that the country had turned into a refuge for terrorists. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi E. Frazer made a surprise visit to the Horn of Africa country on the sixth day of a fragile cease-fire between the government and Islamic insurgents.